We made note some time ago of the idea that seeing French-Canadians on English language TV was a big deal but they did exist. Evelyne Brochu as Delphine on Orphan Black and Jessica Pare as Megan Draper on Mad Men pulled that off on shows visible in the United States.
English language Canadian shows rarely show anything remotely French or Quebecois. Karine Vanasse may help change that in her new drama Cardinal on CTV.
Vanasse has spoken French in U.S. TV dramas Pan Am and Revenge but in those shows, her characters were French not Quebecois. (Yes, we know Delphine is French, not Quebecois, but that show keeps the Canadian element on the down low.)
Cardinal takes place in the fictional town of Algonquin Bay, Ontario and shot in Sudbury, Ontario. So her character is Quebecois in a show in English that takes place in Ontario (Sudbury is 29% francophone).
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We know that Cardinal has even less visibility on the U.S. side because it's on CTV and not CBC and has only 6 episodes. But TV works based on previous practices and a 6-episode series on CTV is still valuable.
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Vanasse has also played French characters in U.S. films such as Midnight in Paris and X-Men: Days of Future Past. You also might have seen Vanasse in English in All the Wrong Reasons in one of Cory Monteith's last films; she played a character afraid of touch in a very powerful, heartbreaking performance. Vanasse and Brochu were heard in separate English and French language versions of Polytechnique.
Canadian Crossing.com TV coverage
Canadian Crossing.com film coverage
English and French are so separate in Canadian society. This Life is a remake of a Radio-Canada drama Nouvelle adresse. We have separate The Grand Seduction films. When Bon Cop Bad Cop II finally gets released this summer, we should have another Canadian example where the languages can mix in well.
Cardinal airs Wednesday nights on CTV at 10 pm Eastern. For our limited guide on U.S. markets accessing CTV, click here for our Super Bowl LI preview.
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